In fact, Apocalypse knows the prospects of sweet potatoes and corn, but he doesn't understand why the yield is so low now. Since the doctoral college is researching, let them do it, and professional things have to find experts, and those half-bucket water managers who know a little fur and show off everywhere all day long are very annoying. What an official needs to do is to balance the internal and external relations, and if he does not do his job properly and dictate the technology in specific affairs, and then encounters a professional who is not only rational but only powerful, then most of the things will be messed up, and even if he is barely done, he will stumble and be unsatisfactory.

Seeing that Zuo Guangdou and other household officials were eager to try, Xu Guangqi was also full of confidence in his skills, so Tianqi decided to accompany them to go crazy. So he turned to Xu Guangqi and said, "Lord Xu started to say that there are three things, but now he only says sweet potatoes and corn, what is the other one?" ”

Xu Guangqi said: "There is also a potato, which is expected to yield higher than sweet potatoes and corn, and it is also very delicious to eat, whether it is used as a staple food or as a vegetable, but many people dare not eat it." ”

Apocalypse wondered, "Why is that?" Could it be that the potatoes now grow too scary and need to be beautified year by year in order to be recognized? ”

"That's not the case, because some potatoes have green skins and sprouts, and people say they're poisonous," Xu said. Chen also tried to cook it many times and feed cats, dogs, chickens and other livestock, but he didn't find that it was poisoned. It is true that the green part is not delicious when people eat it, but it is an exaggeration to say that there is a huge poison, the minister knew this thing before, and after years of observation and inquiry, it was found that the reason why people say that it is poisonous is that people confuse it with jicama. ”

Tianqi said: "Since Lord Xu said that jicama is poisonous, then I will order people to eradicate the jicama from the Ming Dynasty, Lord Xu, do you think it is good?" ”

Xu Guangqi said: "The emperor must not, this jicama is just a seed with huge poison, and it is still delicious and not poisonous." It also has the great advantage of being able to control pests, and planting jicama on the edge of other crops can also prevent pests and increase yields. ”

It seems that professional is professional, and you have to listen to it, and you can't take it for granted, and if you use administrative orders to interfere, it will inevitably cause problems.

Zuo Guangdou said at this time: "Since the yield of this potato is higher than that of sweet potatoes and corn, and according to Lord Xu, it is not poisonous, can it be vigorously promoted in the north?" ”

Xu Guangqi said: "It's totally possible, but its drought tolerance is worse than that of sweet potatoes and corn, but the Bo College can slowly cultivate drought tolerance." ”

What the? Do you have the ability to selectively grow plants now? The cultivation of this crop and the hybridization technology should be hundreds of years later, right? Tianqi couldn't believe his ears, and looked at Xu Guangqi in great surprise to listen to his next explanation.

Other ministers were even more amazed at this time, Xu Guangqi said earlier that sweet potatoes and corn are drought tolerant, and immediately led to a sentence that said that they could save one million taels of words ♀, sweet potatoes and corn drought tolerance was originally precious, but it was not particularly surprising, and now it is actually said that things that are not drought tolerant can be cultivated to be drought tolerant, then this value is not something that ordinary people can measure□ so that some people are asking if they can cultivate rice and plant it on the hillside behind his house, so that the mountains are full of rice, how spectacular should it be?

Xu Guangqi smiled bitterly and said: "There is no such possibility, or there is no such possibility for the time being, this cultivation of drought tolerance is just an initial idea, and now there is only a little progress, that is, a little bit." ”

Zuo Guangdou looked at Xu Guangqi and said, "Lord Xu, even if it's a little progress, you can tell everyone about it, and it's nice to hear it." ”

Tianqi also said at this time: "Master Xu, just tell me how you did it, otherwise everyone will come to your house tonight to find out." ”

Xu Guangqi said to Tianqi: "In fact, many years ago, the minister found that the drought in the Ming Dynasty is getting worse and worse year by year, and he has been thinking about whether he can find drought-tolerant crops. Later, I found that the yield and taste of sweet potatoes and corn were not satisfactory, so I wondered if I could improve the drought tolerance of wheat and other products, but because I didn't have the time and money to do it, I didn't dare to say that it would work. ”

Tianqi nodded and said, "Many years ago, Lord Xu was thinking about the Jiangshan Society of the Ming Dynasty, which moved me very much, and then how did he decide that this method was feasible?" ”

Xu Guangqi said: "Once the minister passed through Shandong, he saw the mule and got the inspiration ♀ that the mule is a donkey and a horse hybrid to get the livestock, it has more endurance than a horse than a donkey, it can be said to concentrate the common benefits of horses and donkeys, the minister is thinking that these four-legged livestock can be hybridized, and there should be no problem with one-legged food crops." Now that the minister in charge of the doctoral college has time and money, and there are no mundane fetters, he just devotes himself to the hybridization of grain crops to see if he can make varieties that are drought-resistant, cold-tolerant, and increase yield, so that the people of my Ming Dynasty will not have to worry about food and clothing. ”

Listening to Xu Guangqi's words, the ministers in the hall were excited, it was just a good wish to increase the output and improve the grain before, and whether this wish could be realized was close to whether the Bodhisattva would bless it, in general, it was very unreliable. Now that I heard that Xu Guangqi's doctoral college had found a way, and he had pulled a mule to prove that this road was possible, it undoubtedly made everyone as excited as if they had eaten Changbai Mountain ginseng.

However, everyone was not happy for long before they heard Xu Guangqi say: "The research of this food crop takes a long time and the environmental requirements are high, otherwise the data obtained is unreliable, and it requires a large amount of silver investment for a long time, so can you give more money from this doctoral college?" Because there are still many projects to be carried out. ”

It's exciting, but as long as it comes to silver, everyone calms down, just kidding, right? It's been almost half a year since you spent so much silver, and now you don't even have a bubble bulging, you just draw a baked cake on the paper and want to continue to ask for silver, and it is a large amount or a long-term investment, are you Xu Guangqi stupid or are you a fool for everyone? If you don't see the rabbit and don't scatter the eagle, it is the precious advice left by the ancestors, and you don't want to have a silver door with two vernaculars.

Seeing that the ministers who were still jubilant just now immediately closed their mouths and coldly when they heard that Xu Guangqi asked for silver, Tianqi smiled and said: "When I started talking to Lord Wu Zhiwang about the medical school, I thought about the relationship between medical research and silver investment, but in fact, isn't this the case for the study of food crops?" This large amount of silver put into it has an effect and it is good to say, in case it is not good to end up with a bamboo basket to draw water, which is a risk problem, before there is no result, such an investment can only be regarded as venture capital, I don't know if the household has the courage to make venture capital now? ”

Zuo Guangdou said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, the silver of this household is arranged, the cultivation of sweet potatoes and corn is at least a certain certainty, and the silver can also come out of the one million immigrants who have been saved, plus there is also the emperor's guarantee, so the minister dares to agree to ♀ the hybridization research of other things, even if the minister has the guts, he does not have the budget." ”

Seeing that the others also shook their heads and said, "In this way, let's set up an entity to work together to engage in this grain hybridization, how about risk sharing and benefit sharing?" ”

Xu Guangqi began to feel cold when he heard that Zuo Guangdou was unwilling to give out the money, but as soon as he heard Tianqi say that he wanted to make an entity to come out and share the risk, he immediately felt that it was gone, and looked at Tianqi and asked, "I don't know what the emperor is going to do?" ”

Tianqi said: "I am going to set up a company, this company will sell shares publicly, and the money sold will be used by you Lord Xu to conduct research, of course, it is a selection of research. If there is no result, we should have fun, and we will share it proportionally when the results are sold to silver, I don't know what Lord Xu and all the adults here think? ”

Seeing that everyone looked at him with embarrassed expressions, Tianqi knew that no one wanted to go crazy with him, only Xu Guangqi said that if Tianqi supported the results, he would not share the silver. So Tianqi smiled and said: "My Imperial Village will be used by Lord Xu's Doctoral College to conduct experiments, and all the profits from my Imperial Store will be used by Lord Xu, and now this company is considered to be my sole proprietorship, but in the future, if someone wants to buy shares and invest, I am afraid it will be very expensive, everyone should think about it carefully." ”